Half of jails have at least one transgender prisoner - Govt figures

[BiologyIsReal]

www.telegraph.co.uk/politics/2019/11/28/half-jails-have-least-one-transgender-prisoner-government-figures/

Can't see if anyone has posted this - from today's Daily Telegraph.

Extract

"Some 62 of the 121 public and private prisons said they have one or more transgender inmates compared with 44 in 124 jails last year. There were overall 163 transgender prisoners this year, up from 139 last year."

"There were 34 transgender prisoners in women’s prisons: 30 reported their legal gender as female and four as male. Of these, 11 identified as female, 20 as male and three did not respond. Prisoners who have already transitioned and have a full Gender Recognition Certificate are not included in the statistics."

The MoJ acknowledges the figures could be an underestimate.

A quick Google search shows the UK prison population to be 93,000... so transgender prisoners make up 0.18%

...so it looks like a disproportionate percentage of the total population are in the women's estate, which affects women prisoners; who are now in mixed sex prisons.

There are some stats in this thread.

www.mumsnet.com/Talk/womens_rights/3733987-Judicial-review-for-woman-prisoner-alleging-sexual-assault-by-trans-rapist-in-prison

One in 50 inmates in adult male prisons claims to be transgender or transsexual, according to HM Chief Inspector of Prisons.

www.statista.com/statistics/283475/prison-population-and-capacity-of-united-kingdom-uk-by-gender/

There were approximately 78.71 thousand men and 3.83 thousand women in prison in the United Kingdom as of May 2019.

78,710 ÷ 50 = 1,574.2

1,574 transwomen prisoners vs 3,830 women prisoners.

Most reported their legal gender as male - a total of 129 - with 32 as female with two not stated. When asked about the gender with which the prisoner identified, 130 identified as female, 20 as male and 13 did not provide a response, according to the MoJ

A 40 per cent increase in a year. The majority, 129, legally male with 130 inmates identifiying as female. An interesting trajectory. I wonder if this increase will continue? What implications does it have if this stark difference between the sex ratio continues?

When the statistics came out showing that a significant proportion of trans prisoners were sex offenders, the argument was that there were many unidentified trans people in prison. The idea there was that if you made the submerged part of the iceberg large enough, the sex offending proportion would become low enough to be less alarming.

I forgot to add the last bit:

Which means that everyone with an interest in this would agree that the Home Office should be made to carry out proper research in this area to determine how many trans people are in prison, what the breakdown in the sexes is, and what are their offences.

Which means that everyone with an interest in this would agree that the Home Office should be made to carry out proper research in this area to determine how many trans people are in prison, what the breakdown in the sexes is, and what are their offences

Absolutely agree. It’s imperative that there is accurate recording of that information. If the 40 percent increase a year trajectory continues, how long before the problem with this policy becomes impossible to ignore?

There were 34 transgender prisoners in women’s prisons: 30 reported their legal gender as female and four as male. Of these, 11 identified as female, 20 as male and three did not respond.

Assuming the 20 that identify as male are FTM trans men that leaves between 11-14 trans women in women's prisons.

If 30 out of 34 report their legal gender as female it appears most of the trans women have a GRC.

Some may argue this is 11-14 too many but it doesn't seem like a huge amount to me unless I'm missing something?

There was a 40 per cent increase last year. What makes you think that number will reduce? What if it continues to increase? What are the implications?

doesn’t it say above that prisoners who already have a GRC were excluded from the figures?

“Prisoners who have already transitioned and have a full gender recognition certificate are not included in the statistics”

Yep Kit. What criteria did these prisoners have to fulfill to demonstrate they ‘identified’ as female? That would be interesting to know. I wonder what the percentage increase will be next year?

There were 34 transgender prisoners in women’s prisons: 30 reported their legal gender as female

So if people with a GRC are not included in the stats that means there are currently 4 trans women in female prisons. Not many really.

Would be interesting to know how many do have a GRC.

it doesn't seem like a huge amount to me unless I'm missing something?

I'm fairly sure even just one seems like a huge amount if you're unlucky enough to be incarcerated and are required to shower etc around them, for example the lucky women locked up with Karen White. Prison officers and prisoners have reported women being intimidated, afraid, harassed, sexually harassed and there are several known assaults on women prisoners in the public domain. Which would suggest there are more that the MoJ hope very much no one will know about.

Those women don't have the luxury of choice or safety about this.